Abstract
As the only Gelugpa temple in Northwest China and the only Green Tara Dojo in China, Guangren Temple, a Tibetan Buddhism temple in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, is crucial to the study of Tibetan Buddhism development in the mainland. This paper takes the Patronus Mahakala as the starting point, because it is not only one of the most important Patronus, but also the incarnation of Shiva, one of the most critical gods in Hinduism. The extraction elements from the statues and the establishment of a connection with Tibetan Buddhism will help explore the origin of the external components of the sculptures in Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. Furthermore, through clarifying the process of religious transmission and development, the conflict and integration of the inter-sectarian, find the impact and evolution of the shape of Gods.
Highlights
In the Tibetan Buddhist temples in China, Mahakala usually appears as a Patronus
There are many viewpoints about the origin and the image of the Mahakala in Chinese academy circles. Few claims that it originated from Vishnu; others find that the prototype of the Mahakala has the exact spiritual origin as the Brahmin and Hindu deities, such as Brahmanism Rudra, the Hindu Goddess Kali, and the Buddhist Mahesvara
Tibetan Buddhism in China has some basis of belief; the image of Mahakala was widely seen in the temple of Protection
Summary
In the Tibetan Buddhist temples in China, Mahakala usually appears as a Patronus. There are many viewpoints about the origin and the image of the Mahakala in Chinese academy circles. Few claims that it originated from Vishnu; others find that the prototype of the Mahakala has the exact spiritual origin as the Brahmin and Hindu deities, such as Brahmanism Rudra, the Hindu Goddess Kali, and the Buddhist Mahesvara All these “archetypes” points to the same Hindu God, Shiva. This paper takes the Mahakala Statue of Guangren Temple as a starting point, extracts its structure characteristic and symbolic element, makes the comparative study with the structure of Hindu Deities, and tries to deduce their homology and the rheology. This proves that the religious culture has always been a factor that cannot be ignored in spread of spiritual culture. As well as cross-regional studies of civilization were existed around the area of the Silk Road
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